The Cognitive Mechanisms of Support-Giving

给予支持--比如给朋友提供建议或安慰，照顾家庭成员，或在当地的非营利组织做志愿者--每天都会发生，但这种相对普遍的社交行为发生的认知机制仍然是一个有待研究的问题。填补这一知识空白对于理解合作行为的起源以及为什么人们即使在自我付出代价的情况下也会采取支持性行动是必要的。当前基础科学工作的发现将有助于建立一个经过科学验证的基础，为未来旨在增加支持行为的干预提供信息，这种行为已经被认为与减少孤独感和延长寿命有关。因此，这些成果有可能解决日益增加的社会挑战，这些挑战影响到人们过上健康和富有成效的生活的能力。为了提高更多元化的研究队伍的研究能力，科学背景较少的学生将接受神经科学方法和数据分析技术的高级培训。这项研究结合了之前两个不同的理论传统，表明给予支持行为的种子是大脑休息时固有的活动，一个人不受外部需求的干扰。融合的观点可能会解释为什么人类的社会性在很大程度上是支持性行为，并澄清了大脑的一项社会功能。为了测试研究问题，大脑活动将被测量为参与者完成有机会休息的任务，然后是给予他人支持的机会，以及在没有机会休息和可能做出其他决定的情况下控制条件。大脑活动也将被评估为现实世界给予支持行为的预测指标。假设休息的大脑将与更快地做出支持他人的决定有关，而不是其他决定，以及花更多时间参与现实世界的支持行为。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Support-giving – such as giving advice or comfort to a friend, caring for a family member, or volunteering at a local nonprofit – occurs on a daily basis, but the cognitive mechanisms by which this relatively prevalent social behavior occurs remains an open question for research. Filling this gap in knowledge is necessary for understanding the origins of cooperative behavior and why people act supportively even when there are costs to the self. Findings from the current basic science work will help build a scientifically validated foundation to inform future interventions aimed at increasing support-giving behavior, a behavior that has already been linked with decreased loneliness and increased longevity. Thus, results have the potential to address increasing societal challenges that affect the ability to live healthy and productive lives. To enhance the research capacity of a more diverse research workforce, students from underrepresented backgrounds in science will receive advanced training in neuroscience methods and data analysis techniques.The research combines two previously separate theoretical traditions to suggest that the seeds of support-giving behavior are inherent to the brain’s activity at rest, where one is undisturbed from external demands. Merging perspectives may explain why such a large part of human sociality is supportive behavior and clarify a social function of the brain. To test research questions, brain activity will be measured as participants complete tasks where there will be opportunities to rest followed by opportunities to give support to others and control conditions where there are no opportunities to rest and where other decisions are possible. Brain activity will also be assessed as a predictor of real-world support-giving behavior. Hypotheses are that the brain at rest will be related to faster decisions to give support to others, but not other decisions, and more time spent engaged in real-world support-giving behavior.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.